Famvir is a prescription oral antiviral drug that is
intended for treatment or suppression of recurrent genital
herpes (also known as shingles). This medicine is also used
to treat recurrent herpes virus infections of the mucous
membranes and genitals in HIV-infected patients. Although
Famvir will not cure genital herpes or herpes zoster, it
does help to relieve the pain and discomfort and helps the
sores cure faster.
Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation announced that the US
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had approved prescription
Famvir (famciclovir) tablets as a single-day treatment for
immunocompetent patients with recurrent genital herpes based
on a supplemental new drug application.
When an outbreak is triggered in the body, there is a narrow
window of opportunity for treatment since the virus is
replicating most vigorously in the first hours of an
outbreak. Data shows that when patients were treated with
the oral antiviral Famvir during this critical period of
time, it reduced the duration of outbreaks and improved the
time to resolution of symtoms
Famvir significantly reduced the time to healing of
non-aborted lesions, as well as time to resolution of
studied symptoms in recurrent genital herpes patients with
lesions by almost two days. The usefulness of Famvir has not
been established for initial-episode genital herpes
infection, ophthalmic zoster, disseminated zoster, or in
immunocompromised patients with herpes zoster. The safety
and efficacy of Famvir for suppressive therapy has not been
established for more than one year.
